Polish-Style Chicken Goulash

Top down view of chicken goulash in large shallow white pan.

This chicken goulash is a Hungarian-inspired Polish dish made using chicken thighs and simple vegetables cooked in a paprika spiced gravy for a quick and delicious meal. The post also includes tips for making this recipe using chicken breast.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Polish

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 35

Total Time 45

Servings servings

Calories 362kcal

Author Monika Dabrowski

Equipment

Large skillet with lid
Non-stick pan
Mixing bowl

Ingredients

1½ pounds chicken thighs skinless, boneless, approx. 5
1 large onion sliced
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper or ½ large, deseeded, chopped
1 small green bell pepper or ½ large, deseeded, chopped
8.82 ounces mushrooms halved/quartered and cut into slices
2 medium carrots cut into rounds
1 bay leaf
2 allspice berries
1½ tablespoons tomato paste
3 teaspoons sweet paprika or combined with hot
⅔ teaspoon thyme
2½ tablespoons oil any
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup stock vegetable or chicken
Salt and pepper to taste
*Optional: 1 teaspoon Polish ground spice mix called ‘pieprz ziołowy’. See *Notes

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare chicken: Place the chicken in a bowl, add the thyme, 1 teaspoon of paprika and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add about 1 tablespoon of oil and stir thoroughly.
TIP: You can prepare the chicken the night before, cover, refrigerate and use the following day.
Sear chicken: Heat about ½ tablespoon of oil, add the chicken and cook for about 2 minutes on each side over a medium heat. Transfer the chicken to a bowl leaving the juices in the pan.
Sautee onion: To the same pan add the bay leaf, allspice berries and onion and cook over a low/med. heat for 3-4 minutes until the onion is softened stirring often. Towards the end stir in the garlic.
TIP: Do not brown the onion (so it stays sweet).
Cook chicken: Return the chicken to the pan (along with the juices), add the stock, the rest of the paprika, cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Cook mushrooms: In the meantime, prepare the mushrooms. In a non-stick pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil, add the mushrooms and cook over a fairly high heat (this is important!) for 6-8 minutes until they start to change colour. Do not add salt and keep stirring to the minimum (so the mushrooms don’t release too much moisture). Add the butter and flour and stir until the flour is no longer visible. Remove from the heat.
Add vegetables: To your chicken goulash mixture add the mushrooms and peppers. Stir thoroughly, cover and bring to the boil again, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally (making sure the chicken doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan). Stir in the tomato paste, remove from the heat, adjust the seasoning if needed and serve.

Notes

Use any boneless dark chicken meat, including chicken thighs, legs or even drumsticks. I like to remove any loose pieces of fat from the meat before using, but you don’t have to.
If you prefer to use chicken with the bone you will need to increase cooking time by about 15 minutes (Step 4). If you want to use pork, instead, cook it for an hour before adding the vegetables.
To save time you can prepare the chicken the night before.
To clean the mushrooms wipe them gently with a paper towel. Do not rinse.
Don’t add more stock than the recommended amount as the vegetables will release a lot of moisture as they cook. Once the dish is fully cooked you can add a splash more (adding too much might make the gravy too thin).
*This ingredient adds an incredible depth of flavour to stews and casseroles. You can find it in Polish stores.
This chicken vegetable goulash can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.
Freeze for up to 3 months.

Nutrition